"Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns;there are things we know we know.We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns-the ones we don't know we don't know."
Donald Rumsfeld

Monday, August 11, 2014

8 Ways to Get Your Posts Seen More on
Facebook

Businesses are in a tizzy these days
because the posts on their Facebook Pages are reaching fewer people. A recent
studyestimated that brand posts
on Facebook are typically seen by about 6 percent of a page’s fans, and that
figure is expected to fall further this year. The decline has created a growing
tension between brands, which have used social media for free marketing for a
decade, and Facebook, which is trying to boost its thriving advertising
business and manage a deluge of content from individual users and Pages. One
company went so far as to “break up” with Facebook because of its page’s
declining reach, which yielded a “sorry I’m not sorry” response from the social
network.

Despite the
angry reaction, Facebook will continue to nudge brands toward paying to reach
more of their fans. But there are some strategies page owners can implement to
make their free posts more effective. Here’s a guide to making your Facebook
Page work for you in the pay-to-play era.

Target Your Posts

Hidden in
Facebook’s myriad settings options is the ability to target Page posts to
specific users based on their age, gender, location, relationship status and
other criteria. Brandon McCormick, Facebook’s director of communications,
wouldn’t say whether a targeted post gets a greater organic reach within its
subset of users than a post broadcast to all a Page’s fans. But anecdotal
evidence from TIME’s Facebook account indicates that targeted posts reach a
large percentage of the fans they’re aimed toward in some cases. Even without a
boost in reach, a smartly targeted post is more likely to engage those users
that do see it. Brands can enable post targeting by selecting “Edit Settings”
from the “Edit Page” drop down menu in a Page’s admin panel.

Use Photos, But Make Them Original

Plain-text status updates have secretly
been one of most effective types of posts for boosting organic reach for years,
but the company announced in January that it would bereducingthe distribution of text posts and
increasing distribution of others. Photos, when used correctly, can be a win
for both audience engagement and reach, and they align with the increasingly
visual nature of the social network and itsspinoff
apps. But be wary of “meme photos,” stock images with humorous or dramatic text
layered over them. Facebook has reduced their reach in a quest to promote what
it deems “high quality” content.

Post at Odd Hours

Figuring out the best time to post on
Facebook has been an elusive goal for social media practitioners for years.
Consider this, though: with 757 million people now visiting Facebook every day,
maybe you don’t want to post something at the same time as everyone else. If
the type of content you’re posting might appeal to people who are awake late at
night or early in the morning, try posting during off-peak hours. Remember that
it’s easy to schedule a Facebook post in advance.

Start a Conversation

An increasing number of items that appear
in the News Feed show a user’s friends engaging with other content—liking,
commenting or sharing a post from another friend or Page. If you can get a
conversation started with a post by asking a question, it’s more likely that
your Page will be pulled into other users’ feeds. Make sure the questions are
pertinent to your organization, though. “If you’re a small restaurant, [fans]
would rather see what your specials are that night than for you to ask how
their day is going,” McCormick says.

Be Engaging

This may seem obvious, but remember that
Facebook’s ultimate goal is to keep as many people as possible glued to the
social network for as long as possible. If your posts keep people engaged, as
measured by likes, comments, shares and time on screen, the social network will
reward you with further reach. Spam up your page with excessive posts that no
one likes or comments on, and your reach is likely to decline even faster than
everyone else’s. The company now regularly resurfaces content that is more than
24 hours old if it’s receiving heavy engagement from users. “Brands are
competing for a very, very small pool of space when they’re looking for organic
reach,” says Nate Elliott, principal analyst at Forrester Research. “The best
way to do that is to offer relevant content that attracts user engagement.”

-Promote With Other Pages

Get mentioned in a post by another brand,
and your Page could show up in the News Feeds of users who don’t already like
your organization. Facebook added this feature in February, but stressed that
such cross-promotions have to make logical sense in order to earn extra reach.
Ensuring that the two Pages have a large pool of overlapping fans can help.
Pepsi, for instance, could mention its subsidiaries like Frito-Lay and Gatorade
in a post, or a city tourism page could work to cross-promote that town’s
popular restaurants.

Hop on a Trending Topic

Facebook took a cue from Twitter earlier
this year and introduced trending topics that attempt to summarize the biggest
news of the day. When users click on a trending topic, they see a mix of
content from other users and Pages about the story. Posts from friends or Pages
a user is connected to get higher placement in the trending feed, so if the
topics are relevant to your brand, consider joining the conversation or
providing a useful link.

Buy an Ad

Facebook, of course, says this is the
most straightforward solution. The company hassimplifiedits ad unit offerings in the last year
in effort to attract more customers. “If you’re a business, advertising is
probably the best bet for you because what you really care about is guaranteed
reach,” McCormick says. “It’s not a great marketing strategy throw something
out there and hope somebody sees it.” He points out that Page fans still matter
for paid posts because Facebook offers discounts on ads that can be delivered
with a social context (basically showing a user that one of their friends also
likes the brand featured in an ad). More Page fans means more opportunities to
provide this context and buy cheaper ads.